Eating in a restaurant is a wide spread activity enjoyed by many and considered a necessity to some. Patrons often find themselves needing items such as a fork, a condiment, the bill, etc. and often it is hard for the patron to gain the waiter's attention when they need something. The waiter also has the problem of knowing an individual customer's needs such as when to take an order, an appropriate time to check if the patron needs anything to go with their meal such a beverage refill, etc. Often patrons find themselves in positions of time constraint and don't have a lot of time to spend in a restaurant. Sometimes the patron finds the waiter to be disruptive such as when a waiter shows up to ask about the meal while the patron has food in their mouth or is trying to enjoy their meal without interruption. With the Waiter Call Light (WCL) all of these problems can be easily solved. With a touch of a button the customer can easily gain the waiter's attention making the experience between both the waiter and patron a lot smoother and more efficient (eliminating the frustration and guess work). With increased efficiency and table turnover times, potential customers won't be discouraged and leave due to long wait times to get a table.
Other inventions in this category, which may be similar in purpose, have one or more problems not associated with the WCL such as; being too complex (both in design and patron usage), not cost effective to produce and/or use, distracting for both the patron and waiter, limit table space, etc. With it's flat, slim, compact, table top mounted water proof button, side mounted light, patron and waiter friendly, simple construction design, the WCL does away with the problems of previous inventions in this field.